Name: Lemon Pudding
Ingredients: ¼ pound flour; ¼ pound sugar; ¼ pound bread crumbs; ¼ pound chopped suet; juice of 1 lemon; grated peel of 1 lemon; 2 eggs; milk (enough to make a porridge-like consistency)

Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Lemon Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

In a basin, combine flour, sugar, bread crumbs, chopped suet, lemon juice, and grated lemon peel.
Add the eggs and enough milk to achieve a porridge-like consistency.

Cook and serve

Boil in a basin for one hour.
Serve with or without sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the pudding together as it cooks.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Suet: Adds fat that gives the pudding a rich, tender texture.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and add body, giving the pudding a soft, light crumb.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and contributes to the pudding's flavour and browning.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity and bright citrus flavour that balances the sweetness.